Year In Search 2023: Google’s Top Trends & 25-Year Time Capsule via @sejournal, @kristileilani

Google commemorates its 25th anniversary by reflecting on the most searched topics globally, showcasing the power of human curiosity and the universal nature of certain interests.

Here’s to the toy that inspired millions to dream big. This year, we’re celebrating the most searched icons of all time. https://t.co/5Tp2BOQous #YearInSearch pic.twitter.com/9LRCornDOY

— Google (@Google) December 12, 2023

This milestone offers a unique perspective on how global search trends have evolved, revealing shared interests and concerns.

Google Search: 25 Years Of Digital History

Over the past 25 years, Google’s search trends have revealed a collective curiosity, highlighting similar moments and inquiries worldwide.

The film “25 Years in Search: The Most Searched” by Google offers a vibrant montage capturing significant cultural and historical moments over the past quarter-century.

Starting with Neil Armstrong’s groundbreaking mission to the moon, the video takes us on a journey through different areas of interest.

It showcases the remarkable sports accomplishments of Cristiano Ronaldo and Virat Kohli, entertainers like BTS and Taylor Swift, and cultural icons such as Pokémon and Harry Potter.

It also touches on significant societal and scientific advancements, including nuclear fusion, social movements like the Ice Bucket Challenge, marriage equality, and voices of change like Tina Turner, Bono, and Malala Yousafzai.

The video concludes with Coco Gauff’s US Open victory, representing the transfer of dreams and success to future generations, encapsulating a quarter-century of human innovation, cultural evolution, and progress.

Google Trends Time Capsule

The Google Trends Time Capsule highlights the significant searches from each year, organized into categories ranging from Anime to Video Games.

Below, you can trace when Pokemon drifted out of the top five card games, returning 17 years later (and subsequently dethroning Uno).

Screenshot from Google, December 2023

It also features an interactive quiz to see what year’s search trends you enjoy most.

Screenshot from Google, December 2023

Most Searched Playground

Google also launched the Most Searched Playground, an interactive game, and Doodle, which will feature the 25 most-searched people, places, and moments over the last 25 years.

Zoom in to discover over 1,700 figures, easter eggs, and dogs in this interactive tour through Google search history.

Screenshot from Google, December 2023

Year In Search 2023

In addition to the silver anniversary of Google search, Google shared its Year in Search 2023, showcasing top searches around the world.

Global Search Trends

The list features trending topics in current events, entertainment, sports, popular destinations, and recipes.

Screenshot from Google, December 2023

You can also view search trends for over 50 countries, many of which include trends related to longer keyword phrases and questions.

Search Trends In Canada

For Canada, the top questions start with how…

How deep is the Titanic? How old was Elvis when he died? How old is King Charles? How long is the Barbie movie? How many episodes in the Last of Us?

And what.

What is Hamas? What is happening is Israel-Gaza? What is quiet quitting? What is the Willow Project? What is Threads? What is Oppenheimer about?

Search Trends In South Africa

For South Africa, you find a section of questions beginning with how is..

How is Celine Dion doing? How is poetry different to other writing genres? How is mumps spread? How is cholera transmitted? How is profit divided between shareholders?

And when is.

When is Father’s Day 2023? When is Mother’s Day in 2023? When is Eid 2023? When is the Rugby World Cup final? When is Easter 2023?

Search Trends In The United Kingdom

For the United Kingdom, top queries include how to…

How to watch the Champions League final? How to watch Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury? How to turn off emergency alerts? How to get My AI on Snapchat? How to get rid of Snapchat AI?

And when.

When is the Coronation? When does Love Island start? When is Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury? When is Eid al-Adha? When is KSI vs Tommy Fury?

Search Trends In The United States

For the United States (U.S.), the top questions related to how often:

How often do you think about the Roman Empire? How often is the World Baseball Classic? How often is a blue moon? How often is the World Cup? How often do trains derail?

Local Year In Search 2023

Local search marketers in the U.S. can also explore trends in specific cities via the Local Year in Search.

Screenshot from Google, December 2023

The trends for each city include the top trends in entertainment.

Screenshot from Google, December 2023

Entertainment is followed by the top near me searches, including the search most unique to the region.

Screenshot from Google, December 2023

Google Search Milestones

In September, on Google’s 25th birthday, Danny Sullivan, Google’s Public Liason for Search, shared a series of milestones in search.

The list began with the creation of Google Images in 2001, inspired by the high demand for images of Jennifer Lopez’s iconic Grammy dress. The same year saw the introduction of the “Did you mean?” feature, utilizing machine learning for spelling correction.

Google News was launched in 2002 to provide timely news information, and in 2003, Google began incorporating clever Easter eggs in Search.

Autocomplete, introduced in 2004 as “Google Suggest,” predicts search queries, saving significant typing time. Google also revolutionized local information search that year, providing business details like maps and contact information.

Google Translate, which began in 2006, now supports over 100 languages, and Google Trends, launched the same year, offers valuable insights into search trends.

2007’s Universal Search marked a significant change, incorporating different content types like images and videos into search results.

The Google mobile app, introduced in 2008, was a breakthrough in mobile search, and the same year saw the debut of Voice Search. Google’s commitment to safety led to the introduction of emergency hotlines in search results in 2009.

Innovations continued with Search by Image in 2011, the Knowledge Graph in 2012, and the Popular Times feature in 2015.

Google Discover, launched in 2016, offered personalized content, and Google Lens in 2017 allowed visual searches.

Google’s AI advancements include flood forecasting models started in 2018 and the BERT language understanding model in 2019.

The Shopping Graph in 2020 made online shopping easier, and the Hum to Search feature solved the problem of identifying songs by humming.

The “About this result” feature in 2021 provided more context about search results.

Multisearch, introduced in 2022, combined text and image searches, and in 2023, Search Labs and the Search Generative Experience (SGE) were introduced as experiments to integrate generative AI into search.

Additional milestones achieved by Google Search over 25 years include an extensive collection of Google Algorithm Updates to ensure quality in SERPs.

Facts About Google

Along with milestones in search, Google also shared impressive statistics about its products used by over half a billion people, six of which serve more than 2 billion users each.

Google Bard – featuring Gemini – is proficient in more than 20 coding languages. Google Translate offers translation services in 133 different languages. Around 70% of generative AI startups, each valued at over $1 billion, are utilizing Google Cloud services. Android’s AI system has successfully shielded users from 100 billion suspected spam messages over the past year. Approximately 500,000 individuals have completed Google Career Certificate programs. Google Lens facilitates approximately 12 billion visual searches each month. The autocomplete feature in Google Search saves an estimated 200 years’ worth of typing time daily. A single Google Sheet can accommodate up to 10 million cells. YouTube Shorts experiences an average of 70 billion views every day as of the latest month. The live stream of India’s moon landing on the Indian Space Research Organization’s YouTube channel achieved the highest viewership ever, with 8.5 million concurrent viewers.

Google’s Ongoing Commitment To Search And AI

In Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s reflection on the company’s evolution, he emphasizes Google’s commitment to search technology and innovation.

The post also served as a reminder of Google’s foundational mission, formulated by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, to organize the world’s information, making it universally accessible and useful.

Looking to the future, Pichai envisions AI as the most significant technological shift, potentially exceeding the impact of the internet with continued innovation.

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Featured image: DANIEL CONSTANTE/Shutterstock